Axionil, a drug created on February 23, 2031, when the Earth's global temperature began to plummet.
It was developed with the purpose of increasing people's resistance to cold, improving blood circulation, and enhancing overall performance in extreme environments, with its only side effect being a constant sensation of hunger due to accelerated caloric expenditure.
However, its side effects are critical for the majority of the population.
Severe tachycardia, with the heart beating above 160 bpm at rest, with a risk of arrhythmia and sudden death, along with a constant feeling of panic. An abnormal accumulation of metabolites, progressive renal failure, urine with dark fluid and sometimes blood. Extreme hyperthermia, with chronic fever and organs nearly cooking from the inside.
There were even cases in which users reported neurotoxicity, with paranoia, psychosis, thermal hallucinations, and severe gnosis.
A medication that can be salvation for some people, and a death sentence for others.
But for Félix, the medication provides no benefits, as its positive effects are already natural to his body. Instead, Axionil acts as a neurological regulator.
Without it, Félix sees his own world, with all the horror that it is. And his mind is taken in such a way that the only thing he can see is—
[A world made of flesh.]
When the Boss saw Félix, he stopped writhing on the floor. A chill ran down his spine. It was a warning, an ancestral warning, the same instinct that made a lion recoil from fire.
His eyes saw one thing, but inside his mind, something else was screaming extreme danger. Still, he refused to trust his own body.
— Andrey, check him. — the Boss said.
Hesitant, the henchman obeyed. Step by step, he approached and nudged Félix with his foot, shook him, and kicked him, but there was no response.
— I think he's dead, Boss.
— Huh? — He pulled the cigarette from his mouth. — Well, that should've been expected. I don't know what I was thinking.
Disappointed, everyone in the basement lowered their weapons and muttered among themselves.
— You two, carry him and dump him in a pit. — the Boss ordered.
But the moment one of the henchmen crouched and touched Félix's shoulder...
CRACK!!!
Félix's right hand locked around the man's neck, the sound of something breaking echoing through the basement. Before anyone could react, he was no longer there, only the henchman's body remained.
The Boss looked up, and there he was, his fingers dug into the concrete wall.
— Shoot!!!
Everyone fired, but at inhuman speed he launched himself forward, grabbed one of them by the head, and slammed him into the wall.
CRACK!!!
Another death. Three left.
— Son of a bitch!!!
The Boss emptied his revolver into the thing that had once been Félix. But he felt nothing, the bullets pierced his body, and he didn't care.
The sight of him terrified everyone in the basement. There he stood, upright, riddled with bullet holes, his yellow eyes staring at them. It was as if he were looking straight into their souls and judging them.
The Boss's hands trembled.
— Kill that thing!
He ran out of the basement, and as soon as he reached the outside, he heard more gunshots, along with the screams of his henchmen. Excluding the Boss, there were still three of them down there, but soon everything went quiet.
At last, the place where they were became clear, it was a modern, well-kept house, as if someone actually lived there. The appliances were clean despite having no electricity to run them, the bed sheets, the sofa, the table, everything was perfectly arranged and spotless.
While they tortured Félix, they wrapped themselves in warm blankets and slept on a soft bed, well… at least their Boss did.
When he looked toward the front of the house, that thing was there. Standing still, its mouth stained with blood.
— How did you get here so fast? What do you want!? — He fell to the ground. — Is it Axionil!? I'll give it to you, you can take everything!!
The Boss knew. The moment he had seen that thing dig its fingers into the concrete, he knew he had no chance.
— I can give you women! I can give you as many as you want! You can keep as many as you like!!
He crawled backward, fear already consuming his body. He looked ridiculous on the floor, all his pride and authority shattered. All because of a single mistake that could have been avoided so easily.
But little did he know that Félix couldn't hear him. All he heard were distorted, meaningless growls. To him, the man was a mass of flesh, a repulsive, fetid mass that left a greasy trail on the floor, like a slug.
The Monster advanced slowly, his bare feet making faint sounds with each step on the cold floor.
— Wait!! If you kill me, you won't find the Axionil!
The floor was made of pig entrails, the walls pulsed with veins and arteries, and the pillars of the house were made of bones. The snow outside was frozen fat, and the sky was tinted red, the clouds racing across it as if in panic.
The thing would not listen, no matter how much he tried, no matter how much he begged. To that monster, he was nothing more than a literal sack of meat.
— Why won't you listen to me!?
It was useless. The Monster climbed on top of the Boss and began to tighten its grip around his throat, but the worst part was not the pain of having his neck crushed. It was that damned empty expression on its face.
It was like staring at the sun,his eyes burned if you looked at them for too long. The rest of his face was expressionless, without emotion, without… life.
[Inside him, the world was very different.]
Félix woke up on a beach, the tide gently touching his feet and pulling him into consciousness. There was no snow anywhere, it was as if this world did not know cold.
He looked around, but there was no one else, no buildings, no houses, only a vast stretch of sand and a massive forest behind him.
— Do you remember?
Félix startled. He quickly looked to his right and saw that shape of light and heat.
— Do you remember when you used to run toward the sea?
The voice came from the other side. When he turned, the shape of light was there as well. But how could it occupy two places at the same time? He couldn't understand it. It was too confusing.
— You always swam all the way to the bottom of the sea, and I jumped in to save you.
Now the voice came from behind, but before he could turn around… it embraced him.
The heat didn't burn him. It was comforting, welcoming. He made no effort to pull away, nor did he bother to look at its face.
— It seems you're causing a lot of trouble out there.
— They started it…
She smiled. — You're always like this.
Silence dominated the place. All that could be heard was the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks. From time to time, seagulls and other birds appeared in the sky.
— Can you let go of me now?
— Only if you promise me you won't try to swim to the bottom of the sea.
— Agnis…
— Félix…
The shape of light tightened around his chest. Her hair, made of yellowish fire, floated and rested against Félix. He touched the strands; despite their form, they were soft and did not burn.
— It's not like I enjoy this… I just can't choose when it starts. — He looked up at the sky. — It's like someone else takes over my body… I just don't want it to destroy what isn't necessary. I know I'm bad. I've never denied that. That's my nature. — He sighed. — But that thing is worse. It doesn't think about anything. It only wants to kill and kill."
— Then you'd better go back soon.
Agnis was much bigger than her little troublemaker. She was nearly three meters tall, while Félix was only 1.70. But that didn't bother him. On the contrary—her embraces always enveloped his entire body.
— Reinforcements are already on their way.
— How do you know that?
— I know many things, but not everything. And that's already enough.
Félix kept his gaze lowered.
— Can't I stay a little longer?
Agnis smiled. — I'm sorry. I wish you could.
Finally, she released the embrace, and Félix stood up.
— When you return, go after Carl. He's four days east of Norilsk, the city you're in now.
— You told me he was in the Benshenaya Sobaka colony before.
— Yes. But you took too long to get there.
— What guarantees he'll be where you say he is now?
Agnis hesitated before answering.
— Because that place is a farm. Not like the one you used to know. Well… you'll understand when you get there."
She stood up.
— Besides Carl, I'd like to ask you for something else as well.
— As long as it's nothing impossible.
Agnis smiled. — Take care of her.
— How?
— I want you to take care of the girl.
— What do you mean? What girl?
— I'm sure you'll understand as soon as you see her.
Félix scratched his head. — You and your requests…
With the conversation over, he walked forward until his feet touched the sea, then closed his eyes. He let his consciousness be wrapped in a cold breeze that coiled around his body and enveloped him.
[He opened his eyes.]
He was back in that house. His mouth and the rest of his body were stained with blood. He was on top of the Boss's clothes, but the man was nowhere to be found.
His body felt completely rejuvenated, filled with energy. His mind was clear, but he knew that wouldn't last long.
He ran through the entire house in search of Axionil. He even returned to the basement, but… there wasn't much to look for there. He just passed by the bodies and took their weapons.
The house had two floors. He found his backpack stored inside a bedroom closet, but it was empty.
His rifle, bandages, medications, everything was gone. He began stuffing his backpack with whatever food and ammunition he could find. However, it was possible to see a group approaching the house.
It seemed to be the rotation team. After a few hours, one group would replace another while Félix was in the basement. There were six of them, all carrying heavy-caliber weapons.
But Félix didn't know how much longer he could maintain his consciousness without Axionil.
There was no time to think. He grabbed a coat with the faction's symbol and jumped out the window. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
He knew a place where he could find what he was looking for. No matter how cruel it was, it was that, or nothing.
He ran.
Not like someone fleeing, but like someone who had already accepted there was no other direction left to take.
The icy wind clawed at his skin as if it wanted to tear him apart, and with every breath, the remaining warmth in his chest seemed to fade away. The world around him was a dead field—a white desert where even sound felt frozen in the air.
He knew this place. Not from maps, but from necessity. In a world where everything died, only certain points continued to breathe.
He climbed the metal stairs of an abandoned structure. The steps creaked under his weight, as if the city itself were protesting his presence. At the top, he knelt and looked out over the landscape.
There was the house beneath the bridge, a tumor in the landscape, wrapped in tarps, faint smoke leaking through improvised gaps.
The thought brought no relief, only calculation.
The descent was worse than the climb. His muscles protested, nerves burned, his heart hammered against his ribs as if it wanted to escape. His mind began to torment him again, and for a few seconds the world turned back into flesh.
When he reached the house, his lungs begged for air. He gripped the rifle tightly, as if the metal could anchor his consciousness. He pushed aside the improvised tarps and stepped inside.
— What the— You're that lunatic! How are you still alive!?
The man's voice cracked at the end of the sentence, not from anger, but from disbelief, like he was staring at something that shouldn't exist.
Félix raised the rifle in a hurry. The motion was mechanical, almost instinctive.
— The Axionil crate.
The man swallowed hard. His eyes didn't focus on the rifle, but on Félix's eyes. There was something wrong with them, something that resembled fever, but without heat.
— I—
The shot into the ceiling echoed like a confined thunderclap. Dust rained down over their heads.
— Now!!!
The man turned and shouted at the woman. There was no courage in his voice, only desperate obedience.
Félix didn't blink. He didn't lower the barrel. He didn't take a deep breath.
He simply waited, like a machine awaiting a completed command.
As soon as the woman brought it, he threw the backpack to the ground and ordered them to fill it with Axionil.
Without saying another word, he grabbed the backpack and bolted east.
While running, he swallowed the Axionil tablets. His legs were already burning, his speed dropping rapidly. The effects of that state were fading, and all the pain was flooding back, but he refused to stop until he was certain he was far enough from the city.
Norilsk began to vanish on the horizon. Buildings and structures disappeared, leaving only a vast frozen desert ahead, dotted with sparse trees.
He collapsed to the ground from the strain of running kilometers without rest. Any ordinary human would have given out within the first five hundred meters. But he had maintained full speed for ten kilometers.
— So this is it, isn't it?
His breathing was heavy.
— I can't be late again, can I? — He lifted his face from the snow. — Carl better really be there… Agnis.